Rick Winter coached high school basketball for 25 years amassing an overall win-loss record of 456 – 252 (.644 winning %), including 20 years as a varsity head coach. He began his varsity coaching career at Damien High School in Southern California. In 1993, only his third year at the helm, he led Damien to only their second Baseline League title in the school’s 40-year history.
In 1995, Winter relocated to Northern California to become the varsity head coach at Marin Catholic High School. Over his 15-year career at Marin Catholic, Winter retired with the 4th highest win % (146 – 62; .701%) in Marin County Athletic League history and an overall won-loss record of 285 – 165 (.633 winning %) at the varsity level. He is the winningest coach in school history where he won six Marin County Athletic League Championships (four in a row from 2002-2005), three North Coast Section championships and four California State Playoff appearances, including two State Semi-Final appearances. Eight of Coach Winter’s teams finished their season ranked in the top 10 of California’s Division IV.
Over the course of his 20 years as a varsity head coach, Winter also helped develop 18 players at Marin Catholic and Damien that went on to have successful careers at the collegiate level, including nine Division I players. Coach Winter was named the 2005 Northern California Division IV Coach of the Year and was named a North Coast Section Honor Coach in 2006 for his contributions to the game on and off the court.
In the summer of 2010, Coach Winter opened the North Bay Basketball Academy. His goal was to improve the fundamentals and skills, as well as mold players into leaders in the local community, in Marin County, California. Through the first four years over 3,000 players have come through the program.
In the summer of 2011, Winter became a consultant with Jeff Fryer, former LMU standout and professional basketball player, and the Fryer Basketball Academy in Newport Beach, California.
In December 2013, Coach Winter partnered with Miami Heat head coach, Erik Spoelstra, to create the Erik Spoelstra Basketball Academy in Miami, Florida. Coach Winter was the Executive Director of ESBA.
Most recently, Coach Winter partnered and served as a consultant with the Beach City Basketball Academy in Long Beach, California and is currently a consultant with First Coast Basketball Academy in Jacksonville, Florida.